A 3D Printing, Digital Fabrication, Gaming Enthusiast Blog

Tag: Digital Fabrication

As many of you know from my previous post, I left off discussing the misalignment of my Pinda Probe over the print bed. I wasn’t sure how big of an issue it was going to be, until I tried calibrating the XYZ axis. The nozzle began hitting the bed after the 3rd pinda position and I had to abort the calibration. I was pretty confused how to fix this problem and began digging around Prusa’s support site and different blogs/websites dedicated to Prusa printers. The most useful site I found was the Pinda misaligned page on the Prusa site. I determined my issue was shown in this diagram:

My Pinda had managed to front shift during the repairs of my extruder (see the post below for a rant of that godforsaken clog). The page said that to fix this problem, “just unscrew the M12 bolts holding it, move the Z-frame back (or front, depending of the position of the pinda relative to the heatbed probe circles, and tighten it back”.

Well, “just unscrewing the M12 bolts” turned out to be more difficult than I imagined. First of all, I didn’t put together the printer (yes, I’m one of those people who bought it pre-assembled) so I wasn’t quite sure where the M12s were located. I finally found this video by Josef Prusa which shows the exact location under the printer (around minute 8:00).

After finding the bolts, I discovered that I probably needed to work out a bit more, as I could not loosen them. Even my boyfriend struggled and we sat for a while baffled at how we would possibly loosen them. FINALLY, with some help of WD-40, we were able to undo them. I realigned the Pinda within the circle and tightened the blots…. to only realize my Z frame was skewed. It took a couple tries, but I finally got it to sit perpendicular. Overall, it was a bit of a process, but the printer ended up calibrating fine (I’m still getting “XYZ calibration all right. X/Y axes are slightly skewed”, but that’s a fix for another day).

Here’s a pic of a quick test print, which I’m quite pleased with:

I’ll post some more photos later of future prints, but in the mean time, happy printing!

I apologize for the delayed post, for as you know, I have been quite busy with my new Prusa printer. It has been a bit of a rocky road to start, but I’m still really excited for what this printer has in store for me and all the great things I’ll print in the future! So I’m going to give a step-by-step of my first few weeks with it- hopefully this will give insight to other users on some common issues.

So here we go, the unboxing:

This of course was so so exciting for me! I’ve loved 3D printing since college and always dreamed of having my own printer to meddle with. I decided to purchase the Prusa i3 MK2S assembled and received the printer quite quickly (I know Prusa Research just expanded their labs and therefore have faster turnaround time on their orders). Once I received the printer, I unboxed and began following the initial calibration tests. Check out these gummy bears hanging out with my newly unboxed printer:

So here is where my issues begin. First issue was, as some of you may have guessed.. an extruder clog. To those of you who have never used a 3D printer, an extruder clog is one of the most common issues with 3D printers. A clog is never a quick or easy problem to resolve. I first noticed the clog when trying to load the filament for the very first time. I was quite frustrated, as I hadn’t even printed anything, but this ultimately became a very vital learning experience for me and I’m glad I had to go through it.

I tried both the the cold pull method and heat creep method (meaning I heated my nozzle to over about 230 Celsius to loosen any stuck PLA filament). Unfortunately, this did not remove the filament clog. Prusa provides an acupuncture needle you can insert into the nozzle to try and remove any stuck filament. Here you can see I ended up bending mine by pushing too hard on it:

And here is how far I got my filament into the nozzle (you can see I’ve already begun taking apart the extruder… you’ll hear more about that loose fan in a moment):

I decided to resort to both Google and Prusa customer service, since at this point I had no idea how to remove the clog. I found this article, whose author had a very similar clog to mine- he ended up taking apart his extruder. I was hesitant to do so, as I had purchased my printer assembled and had no background in the mechanics of the printer. However, Prusa customer service got back to me and said the same thing; I would have to take apart the extruder to clear the clog. They provided video instructions on how to disassemble the extruder, which helped me greatly and, yes, led to me removing the clog. Here are the links to those videos (1 and 2) if anyone else runs into a similar clog with their Prusa MK2S printer or E3D V6 hotend.

Firstly, it was really just unscrewing the motor, two fans, and housing, without damaging any of the wiring.

After this is where it became more difficult. Essentially, after removing the housing, you are left with your nozzle (the tiny piece where your filament comes out), hot end (the box-like piece where all your wires connect and heat up- thus the name), and the heat break and heat sink (the pieces through which your filament travels to the hotend- there is typically also teflon tubing to help the filament flow correctly). See the below image as to what this all looks like:

I deduced that my filament was stuck in the heat break, as this is quite common and the location where my acupuncture needle got to. This meant I would have to disassemble everything further- I removed the heat break from the heat sink and then the heat break from the hotend (probably the most difficult part as it was screwed in factory tight- it helped to heat the hotend up a bit to loosen the pieces):

:

And looked what popped out- that’s right, the clog! Sorry for potato quality, I was shaking from excitement:

So there you have it, how to remove a clog from your extruder. This, of course, was not the end of my troubles as I had to reassemble everything. As soon as I began to reassemble, I realized that the wires from the cooling fan had broken off. I took this photo with just the black wire broken off, but as soon as I moved the fan, the red wire fell off as well:

*SIGH* Out comes the soldering iron:

Thankfully, soldering the wires worked and the fan powered up as I booted up the printer. And we are back in business!

Everything calibrated fine and I was able to begin printing.

So exciting! Unfortunately, I do have to end the post with another issue… between the prints in the photo and now, my Z and Y axis became misaligned. The nozzle is hitting the bed every time I try to calibrate, and the PINDA is not aligned correctly (you can see it’s shifted forward, a bit outside of the white dashed circle):

I’m hoping to get this fixed relatively quickly, and am cautiously optimistic due to my victory over the Battle of the Clog. WISH ME LUCK!

A big shout out to the customer service over at Prusa Research and to my boyfriend, who put up with my cursing and helped me unscrew the hotend/solder the fan!

Short post- but I purchased my very first personal 3D printer! A Prusa i3 MK2S- I will go into details in a longer post soon, but it arrived a few days ago and I’m ready to begin setting it up. Wish me luck!

I’ve always been interested in 3D printing in different materials or even possibly coating prints with paint or metal. During my time at UVA’s architecture school, I printed in nylon, wood filament, and many other crazy materials. I’ve also tested smoothing ABS with acetone vapor (works wonderfully). However, I really wanted to try something new, especially now that Techshop was at my disposal. My friend/coworker Brett runs an electroplating class, which I decided to take one day after work. Basically, the idea of electroplating is to use an electric current to coat a conductive object (typically some sort of metal) with, well, a different type of metal. It’s extremely useful and can be used for many different things, such as to decorate, to harden objects, or to protect from corrosion. In Brett’s class, we plated a copper penny with nickel- the process was far simpler than I originally imagined. You mix together nickel acetate (easy buy from Amazon) with vinegar in a plastic container. Once that’s all nice and mixed up, you connect whatever you are trying to electroplate (in our case, copper) to the cathode aka negative side of a small power supply (6V battery) and the metal you plan to electroplate with (nickel) to the anode aka positive side. Place both in the nickel acetate vinegar bath, turn on the power supply to about 4 V (best to keep the voltage low) and wait. You will begin to see a coating form over your penny!

I was extremely pleased with the results and wondered if I could somehow use the same technique to coat a 3D print. I did some research online and saw that many people had tried it and got some pretty awesome results. It seemed that the cheapest method was using a graphite based coating, which would make the 3D print conductive. I decided I would try out a combination of acetone and graphite powder- the acetone, in theory, would cause ABS plastic to melt a bit (remember acetone vapor smoothing) and therefore act as a adhesive for the graphite. I purchased some graphite powder and acetone and mixed it. Oh my goodness, the graphite got everywhere! My hands were covered in this stuff for days. But, the mixture turned out very well in my opinion. I found an old ABS print I didn’t mind testing on and coated it with my solution. Here is how the solution looked and the graphite powder I purchased (noticed I kept it in a plastic baggy at ALL TIMES):

Once it was coated, I used the same method as Brett showed in class, but rather than connecting a copper penny to the cathode, I connected my graphite covered 3D print (well, I wrapped nickel wire around the print to ensure it was secure and connected that the cathode). Unfortunately, I did not take any photos of that rig, but I do have a picture of how it turned out:

First try went way better than I expected. I honestly didn’t think it was going to work at all (my coworkers at Techshop had their doubts as well). The dark gray areas are places that didn’t take the nickel, but the lighter areas are locations coated in nickel- success! Now that trial 1 was over, it was time to move on to bigger things. Such as JEWELRY.

I designed a basic parametric bracelet in grasshopper and printed it on a Stratasys Mojo. It came out with a lot of support material, so it had to sit in the bath for a while. Here it is covered in support:

Afterwards, I coated the bracelet with my acetone graphite solution. I did about 3 coats since the design was so complex; I had to ensure I got every little crevice. Here it is as I’m beginning to coat it:

Alright, now it’s time to electroplate it! I set up the rig and connected the 3D print using A LOT of wire. I then carefully placed it in the nickel acetate bath and let it sit for 7 hours. It’s like watching paint dry:

Here you can finally see what the rig looks like. That rectangular object is my chunk of nickel, connected to the anode of my power supply. I had to rotate my bracelet every so often since my solution didn’t fully cover it. You can see the nickel beginning to cover the print:

After seven long hours, I pulled the print out and was amazed at the results and how well the graphite took the nickel. Of course, it wasn’t perfect. There were areas of the print that didn’t take as much and some areas looked a little clumpy. Additionally, the metal was not polished. I purchased some Simichrome and used that the polish it up. It actually worked pretty well. Here is an image of the final product:

Pretty cool stuff. I plan to test it on other objects, but for now I’m pleased I created a new trendy bracelet I can wear 🙂

On April 14th, I attended 3DDC, a 3D printing policy event hosted by Public Knowledge. I know this is a rather delayed post, but I think some of the topics brought up at the 3DDC event are worth discussing in this blog. There were panels of expert makers and 3D printing specialists, including some of our own from Techshop. The panels focused on 3D printing in regards to STEAM education, the environment, bridging the workforce skills gap, and the arts.

I attended the workforce gap and arts panels and was intrigued by some of the issues brought up by both the audience and panelists. For example, the workforce gap panel discussed the difficulties in teaching older makers how to use new technologies. As someone who grew up using a computer and learned to 3D model at a young age, I had never really thought about this. I always thought desktop 3D printers were relatively simple to use. Export the model as an STL, send it to the printer, make sure there is enough filament, hit the start button and *voila* a few hours later you have a print (ignoring the potential extruder clog- looking at you, Makerbot). But this process might not be as intuitive to someone who hasn’t used a computer from a young age or seen a 3D printer in action. While working at Techshop, I remember a lady calling in and asking if she could purchase ink and paper for our shop’s 3D printer. Of course it seemed funny at the time, but unless you’ve used a 3D printer, you probably wouldn’t know what the filament was made out of or how to load it into the printer. I can understand how learning to use this technology would be frustrating to an older audience. The panel discussed methods of teaching these new technologies to an older age group, from providing free classes at the library to holding workshops for retired veterans at Techshop. I believe you can “teach an old dog new tricks”, but it will take time and effort. Repetition and consistency is key in learning how to use machines and software; conduct tasks over and over until it is ingrained.

The first topic of conversation during the arts panel was using 3D scanning/printing to create replicas of famous pieces of art. The paradigm case: a 3D scan of Nefertiti’s bust. The bust is currently located in the Neues Museum in Berlin and is the subject of ownership conflict between Germany and Egypt. Two artists, Nikolai Nelles and Nora Al-Badri, snuck a 3D scanner into the museum and were able to gather enough data to create a detailed 3D replica of the bust, which they uploaded online and had this to say: “With the data leak as a part of this counter narrative we want to activate the artefact, to inspire a critical re-assessment of today’s conditions and to overcome the colonial notion of possession in Germany.” Though new information may have ousted the whole heist as a hoax, it brings up important issues with how we view the intersection of art and technology. What’s the difference between taking a picture at a museum versus a 3D scan? When does it become theft of cultural and artistic property? Does 3D printing an art piece make it a counterfeit? Does it matter who is overseeing the scanning and printing? Many museums are using the technology to preserve and document their collections. For example, look at the work the Smithsonian is conducting: http://www.3d.si.edu/. So what do you think? Is 3D scanning and printing detrimental or beneficial to how we see art?

The arts panel also brought in one of my favorite artists, Francis Bitonti. You might know him for his famous Dita Von Teese 3D printed dress (it’s killer). He is one of the most prominent and innovative artists using 3D printing and I’m excited to see what he has in store for us in the future. Here’s a picture of him during the panel, as well as his 3D printed dress. Overall, I had a great time at 3DDC and was left with many questions about the future of 3D printing.

I recently started working at Tech Shop, a maker space in Arlington filled with 3d printers, woodshop, CNC routers, waterjets, and laser cutters. It’s a great place to work on your own projects or take classes to learn how to use the machinery. I work as a front desk assistant and therefore am able to take free classes- a pretty sweet gig if you ask me. About a month ago, I took the safety and basic use class for the rotary attachment for the laser cutters. In school, I used laser cutters to cut components of my models , yet I never knew a rotary attachment existed. Essentially, the attachment allows you to laser cut/etch on a curved surface. A very useful piece of equipment! Here is an image of my first project on it (Lord of the Rings nerdom):

After completing my first glass, I realized I could create some great gifts on the rotary. My friend Tori’s graduation is coming up and I thought it would be cool to make something for the occasion. Tori is a fantastic artist and appreciates handmade gifts; I decided it would be even cooler if I made something that incorporated her own art. I creeped through her facebook album of artwork until I found something I could easily etch on glass:

Beautiful design and only two-toned- perfect. First step, I needed to image trace and rasterize this bad boy in Illustrator. Super simple, took about a minute:

Afterwards, I had to resize the image to ensure it would fit on the glass I purchased. I measured the height of the glass and used that as the width of the image, then measured the circumference of the glass (used a caliper to measure the diameter then did the math) to use as the height of the image. I kept the opacity of the etch at 100% because I really wanted her design to stand out against the clear glass. I fit the glass on the rotary and let the laser do its thing. Took about 15 minutes to etch entirely, which I didn’t think was too bad. Overall, my handmade gift only took about 20 minutes. Safe to say, I will definitely be making more gifts on the rotary!

First blog post- woohoo! I thought it would be useful to make a blog about my interests, specifically 3D printing and tech. It will definitely be nice to have everything written down in one place (you know, rather than on sticky notes floating around my desk). Some background information on me: I’m a recent graduate of UVA’s School of Architecture, currently working in DC as an Architectural Designer for Jacobs Engineering and the State Department. My hobbies include 3D printing and digital modeling (obviously) as well as gaming, drawing, cross-stitching, backpacking and hiking, binge watching Battlestar Galactica on Netflix, among many other things.

I hope to achieve a couple of things from this blog. Firstly, I want to learn more about the maker movement. By collecting information regarding fabrication, digital modeling, 3D printing, tech, etc. and compiling it here, I’ll have a solid record of everything I’ve learned. Secondly, this blog will be the impetus to become more involved in digital fabrication. With a busy schedule, it’s hard to devote time to a hobby. However, the urge to write blog posts will hopefully keep me active in my 3d printing/tech pursuits.

My plans for this year are to purchase a 3D printer and to create printable objects. I also need to brush up on my grasshopper (a plugin for Rhinoceros software) skills to continue designing parametric models. Hopefully I’ll be able to achieve some of these goals and write about them along the way!